


the flowers understand that we're fine, you and i

by dinosaurism



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Aromantic, Aromantic Sir Fitzroy Maplecourt, Asexual Character, Asexual Sir Fitzroy Maplecourt, Campaign: Graduation (The Adventure Zone), Comfort, Gen, Male Friendship, Male-Female Friendship, Multi, Panic Attacks, Platonic Cheek Kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2020-11-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:19:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27466318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dinosaurism/pseuds/dinosaurism
Summary: in which rainer platonically gives her good friend fitzroy a kiss on the cheek. said friend freaks out at this and has to confide in his sidekicks/best friends/roommates argo and the firbolg.
Relationships: Argo Keene & Sir Fitzroy Maplecourt, Master Firbolg & Argo Keene & Sir Fitzroy Maplecourt, Master Firbolg & Rainer (The Adventure Zone), Master Firbolg & Sir Fitzroy Maplecourt, Sir Fitzroy Maplecourt & Rainer
Comments: 2
Kudos: 41





	the flowers understand that we're fine, you and i

**Author's Note:**

> sjdhsjjs no im not projecting onto fitz what are u talking abt.  
> tw for panic attacks!  
> title from recently by liana flores!

Sir Fitzroy Maplecourt was a mess, literally and figuratively. It all happened in his Potions class. Professor Mulligan had just dismissed his class after the students had cleared their working stations, well, most of them had. Fitzroy had maybe or maybe not started to zone off once most of the class left. Rainer, his friend and partner for the class, had noticed, a smile immediately spreading across her lips as she looked at her barely present classmate. 

She nudged him hard, which made the boy snap open his eyes with a gasp. He jumped and accidently knocked over the healing potion he'd spent about five minutes working on. The glass bottle smashed to the floor, the purple liquid spilling across the linoleum tiles. "Shit!" He swore then looked to his friend, sending her an annoyed glare while she giggled under her hands. "Oops! Sorry about that." She grinned, and before Fitzroy could react, leaned over and kissed his cheek. 

A split second later she was gone, speedily rushing out of the now empty classroom in her wheelchair. Fitzroy was left there to internally panic, his hand flying up to wipe at his cheek. Why did she kiss his cheek? Was she interested in him? She’d never mentioned anything of the topic before. Did she even mean anything by it? Was he interested in her? 

The thought made an uncomfortable shudder ripple through the half-elf’s spine. No, no he was definitely not. This had been a relevant matter in Fitzroy’s life recently. Who he was attracted to, if he could even feel attraction. He’d never wanted a romantic relationship before. Had always been too focused on school or his grades or his friends, not that he really had any before transferring to Hieronymous Wiggenstaff’s, but never relationships. 

They just never really came to mind, which he didn’t have a problem with. His pride was too swollen to worry about something silly like dating. But when it came to his friend, that was what caused him this anxiety. He had to talk to her, right? Ask her why? What if he had to reject her? What if she’d start crying? Even worse, what if she would blame him? Oh God, he really didn’t want to ruin their bond. 

He chewed on his chipped painted nails, the gold polish flaking off as he hurried off to his dorm, the glass of the broken potion bottle shining when he stepped over it. Clutching his bag filled with books and other things to his chest, he darted into his room and closed the door probably louder than necessary, his heart doing flips inside of his chest. He could feel the tingle of magic coursing through his veins and forced himself to take some deep breaths. 

He could not go into a rage right now. When he turned around, his eyes landed on his friends Argo and the Firbolg nestled into each other on the floor, a book in Firbolg’s hands. Argo was sitting in his roommate's lap, which he could easily snuggle into as the Firbolg was quite large, head resting in the crook of his neck. The Firbolg was resting his chin on the water genasi’s shoulder as he read his book aloud. Both of their eyes were now on Fitzroy who was shaking a bit. 

The Firbolg leaned back as Argo uncurled himself from his lap with a frown, starting to walk over to him. “Are...Are ye’ okay Fitz?” He asked hesitantly, taking his bag from his hands and tossing them onto his creaky bed. Usually Fitzroy would stiffen with anger whenever his possessions were treated without care, but he was still a bit too shaken up to say anything. He just nodded though he didn’t really know if that was a lie or not. What was going on with him? Why was he so nervous all of a sudden? All Rainer did was kiss his cheek and now he was on the bridge of a panic attack. 

He let Argo take his hands in his, looking at him while blinking away tears he didn’t even notice were daring to spill. His head began to cloud, skin tingling, breath fast and short, heart pounding. Shit. Through the fog in his head, he could hear the Firbolg ask him what four things he could see. He blinked a few times, eyes darting around the room. “I-I see Argo’s hands, the Firbolg, a b-book, and my bag.” He swallowed, taking a big breath as Argo squeezed his hands. 

“Good. Now three things ye’ can hear?” Argo asked, softly rubbing circles into the palms of his hands. The water genais’s touch was cold and it felt nice against his flushed skin. His hearing wasn’t as muffled anymore which was a good sign. If he could pick any people to help him calm down, it would be Argo and the Firbolg. “Your voice, the Firbolgs voice,” He closed his eyes and tuned in, grounding himself like he would when he would ‘fall asleep.’

He could hear birds chirping outside of the open window as well as the chattering of fellow students. “and other people.” They continued with this until Fitzroy felt mostly-normal again. His hands were still trembling slightly but at least he could breathe. He was now sitting on his bed, stroking Snippers’ smooth shell while Argo and the Firbolg were back on the floor in front of him in the same position they were in before. Those two loved physical affection. Fitzroy never really got it, but once in a while the Firbolg, Argo, or even both would cuddle with him after he would have a nightmare and it always left him feeling warm inside.

“So she just kissed ye’ on the cheek an’ left?” Argo questioned, leaning into the Firbolg’s embrace. Fitzroy nodded with a sigh, fingers tapping ever so lightly against the back of his pet crab. “I-I am very confused,” He admitted, his eyes glued to the wall next to him. “I don’t know why she kissed my cheek and I don’t know if it meant anything and I’m scared that she’ll hate me if I confront her but I don’t want to just ignore her and-” “It seems like Rainer kissed your cheek platonically.” The Firbolg interrupted, the sound of his powerful but gentle voice shutting the half-elf up. 

Argo nodded at this thought. “I mean me an’ Firby are snugglin’ right now but that doesn’t mean we are dating, ye’ know?” Fitzroy took that into consideration. It was true, he couldn’t lie about that. Just because Rainer simply pressed her lips to his face didn’t mean she liked him, right? He hoped so. He nodded and watched as Snippers crawled onto his shoulder then disappeared. “I believe you’re right. I’m guessing I’m supposed to go talk to her now?” He asked with dread.

This was the scary part. Unfortunately, he was met by two nods. He just groaned and laid back in his bed.

The next day was stressful for Sir Fitzroy Maplecourt. Anxiety had been building up in his chest all day. He had decided the day prior the plan was to find her during lunch and explain his feelings and confusion. He ended up staying in his dorm the entire day pretending to have a cough. Argo and the Firbolg obviously disagreed with this decision but couldn’t stop him. 

God, he felt like such a loser. He wanted to talk to her, he just couldn't. He didn’t want to hurt her or make her feel bad or anything like that. He’d probably go into a rage and set himself on fire if that happened. A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts. He assumed it was just Argo or the Firbolg coming in to either yell at him or force him out of the door. “You may enter!” He called out, knowing he should’ve gone to open the door but simply not feeling like it. 

Instead of the familiar voices of his roommates he heard a soft voice say, “Hey Fitzroy I-oh, should I come back later?” He immediately shot up out of bed and flushed a bright crimson as he saw Rainer in the doorway, a plate of crepes in her hands. He yelped, more high-pitched than he would’ve been comfortable with, and covered himself with his blanket. He wasn’t naked, no he would never have let anyone come in if he was, but all he wore was a red pair of silk boxers and an open red silk robe lined with gold to match. 

He wasn’t at all uncomfortable with his own body, but still felt embarrassed to have her look at him without a top. “N-No you-uh-you are fine-um-hi! Hi Rainer! H-How are you this lovely morning?” He stammered, shaggy black hair falling into his glasses. One of his worst pet peeves was looking unpresentable in front of people. She just smiled sweetly and wheeled over to him, setting the plate of crepes on her lap. 

“I’m good! Uh Argo told me you weren’t feeling too well so I brought you these!” She exclaimed, tucking strands of blonde hair behind her ears. Fitzroy’s stomach growled and he suddenly remembered he hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday. “O-Oh, thank you! Yes, yes, I’m fine just had a bit of a cough, you know how it is.” Fitzroy tried, and failed miserably, to play cool. He would’ve been very surprised if Rainer hadn’t noticed. 

She gave him a blank stare and blinked. The red hot flush returned to his face, though it barely left in the first place. He sighed and dropped the blanket, the material pooling around his waist. “Look, okay, I’ve been needing to talk to you about something. It happened yesterday, in Potions?” Rainer tilted her head and Fitzroy knew she either forgot or didn’t think of the kiss as anything to take in mind. God, he knew he was overreacting. He should just stop talking now. There was no point in explaining, she probably wouldn’t even care. 

He blinked when he felt Rainer take a hold of his hand and met her warm gaze. “Hey. You can tell me anything, you know that right?” Fitzroy nodded and swallowed down his nerves. “Yes. Okay. Thank you. So I’ve been meaning to ask you, um, this. Well I was just wondering about um-” Spit it out. “Sorry I was just wondering about why-uh-why you-” SPIT IT OUT. “Why did you kiss my cheek?” The final question finally came out. He pulled away his hand and picked at his nails, averting his gaze down to the floor. Here it comes. The tears, the yelling, the blaming. Wait, why wasn’t she yelling at him. No, no she was...giggling?

He watched nervously as Rainer laughed. An uncomfortable smile crept onto his lips and he didn’t know whether to join in or run away. Rainer’s giggles died down and she wiped at her eyes, face pink. “Sorry, sorry. Fitz, that kiss was just a little teasing thing! I meant literally nothing by it. But I’m sorry if I, like, confused you.” She apologized, looking at him with a bright grin. Suddenly, his anxiety dropped, warmth filling him. He suddenly questioned himself on why he was even scared in the first place. He let out a huge sigh of relief and pushed his hair away from his eyes. “Good, good, Yes, I don’t know I was just nervous you were interested in me and I didn’t want to lead you on or anything and-” 

He stopped in his tracks when Rainer hoisted herself up to kiss his forehead, leaning back again. “See? It’s not a big deal dummy.” Fitzroy didn;t feel as shell shocked as he did before, in fact he felt a pleasant tingle where her lips had touched against his skin. “Okay, okay I get it. I’m glad we cleared this up. Now, I’m just gonna go fucking hog wild on these crepes because I’m absolutely starving.” He grinned at her, reaching over to grab the plate as well as the plastic fork and knives she brought with him. 

He was too late to swat her hand away before she grabbed one off the stack. She laughed and he joined in. There they spent the next hour. Eating crepes talking about magical pets and other students, like normal friends would. Fitzroy was sort of happy that this had all gone down. Maybe this had brung them together. 

He wasn’t sure, but the thing he did know was that he certainly had some things to learn about. That wouldn't be a problem though, as long as he had his friends to support him and he would be there to support them. They would be okay.


End file.
